Ann Arbor’s 53rd annual Hash Bash is set to take place Saturday in the same spot it originated over half a century ago on the University of Michigan Diag.
Starting at high noon April 6, local musician Laith Al-Saadi will kick off festivities by performing the national anthem on guitar and will join forces with John Sinclair for an unforgettable musical experience, organizer Jamie Lowell said.
This year’s event will honor the legacy of Michigan’s cannabis movement heroes, while advocating for continued reform, Lowell said, releasing a list of dozens of speakers expected to take the stage, including Sinclair and “Mr. Hash Bash” Adam Brook.
The annual marijuana celebration and smoke fest originated in April 1972, four months after musician John Lennon and others came to town for a freedom rally for Sinclair, an Ann Arbor poet who was serving a 10-year prison sentence for two joints. After Michigan’s felony marijuana law was declared unconstitutional and Sinclair was freed, the first Hash Bash was held and Ann Arbor soon decriminalized pot at the local level.
Hash Bash has taken place the first Saturday in April ever since and continues to attract thousands of visitors in tandem with the nearby Monroe Street Fair.
This year’s Hash Bash speakers lineup includes several longtime cannabis activists, including Leni Sinclair, Chuck Ream and Tim Beck, as well as representatives from various groups and entities ranging from the Michigan Psychedelic Society to the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office.
Local politicians such as Sen. Jeff Irwin, U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell and state Rep. Jimmie Wilson Jr. also are on the lineup, along with public officials from Gaylord and Pontiac.
Michael Thompson, a Michigan man who spent 25 behind bars for convictions stemming from a marijuana sale, also is expected to speak. He symbolizes the ongoing fight for justice in cannabis-related cases, Lowell said.
This story was published in MLIVE